


Ambition is like love

by MissCatherineEarnshaw



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Veep
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/M, Flashbacks, Humor, Late Night Conversations, Love/Hate, Wizarding Politics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCatherineEarnshaw/pseuds/MissCatherineEarnshaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em> The moment Slughorn turns his head to write on the board the ingredients of their first potion , Dan extends his hand and tells her with a sickeningly bright smile “I don't think we've met. I'm Dan Egan.”</em>
  <br/>
  <em> And Amy might only be eleven, and ignorant of a lot of things, but she already knows this boy is going to be trouble.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ambition is like love

**Author's Note:**

> You know who hasn't written an HP!AU in a long time ? You're right that's me ! Also there is not one in this fandom yet and I live to serve. 
> 
> Titles comes from Sir John Dunham's quote “ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals”.
> 
> You're welcome to rant on my Sorting and my typos/mistakes in the comments. As usual, unbeta'ed.

* * *

 

When Amy first walks into the ministry she is eighteen, bright-eyed, and confident her place is there. She has spent all summer harassing various acquaintances and negotiating to secure a position as the assistant of the head of the Department of Magical Transportation. It's a bit tedious at first – mostly boring administrative stuff, organizing one pointless meeting after another. And then a scandal of flawed Portkeys issued by the minister breaks out – several wizards ended up splinched for some reason - and all of a sudden she has to settle the crisis on her own, talk to officials, issue statements to reassure the population and so on. It's both the most frightening and the most thrilling experience she has ever lived, and it's right then that she realizes that this is what she wants to do for the rest of her life.

The next year Selina Meyer, rising star of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, announces that she wants to run in the incoming campaign after Shacklebolt's end of mandate, and Amy proposes to give her a hand. Selina says yes. She doesn't win this election but she does the next; Amy never leaves her side.

So that's why she is currently sat at a dingy table in the Leaky Cauldron, sipping a glass of Firewhiskey to quiet her nerves after yet another exhausting day at extinguishing fire after fire.

Why is Dan Egan in front of her, doing exactly the same thing, is another matter entirely.

 

 

_Amy doesn't meet Dan in the train. As anticlimactic as it might sound, her first ride in the Hogwarts Express is actually pretty boring – she's stuck with snooty second years whose only topic of conversation is Quidditch. Awful. She doesn't remember him from the sorting either – everything in this place is new and exciting, and there so many unknown faces surrounding her she doesn't get the chance to remember every first years – even the ones who end up sitting at the Slytherin table with her. And, when the prefects drag them to the dungeons, later on, she is too busy observing the castle and its dark corners to chit chat._

_So she and Dan only properly meet on their first class of the year – Potions, with the man she will soon call to think as this dear old Slughorn. They end up partnering, more or less by accident – he already seems to have befriended half of their year but he arrives a bit late, and so the only place is next to her._

_The moment Slughorn turns his head to write on the board the ingredients of their first potion , Dan extends his hand and tells her with a sickeningly bright smile “I don't think we've met. I'm Dan Egan.”_

_And Amy might only be eleven, and ignorant of a lot of things, but she already knows this boy is going to be trouble._

 

 

Right next to her, Dan is ending his third glass and gesturing the barman to get him another. After one look at Amy's glass, he mouths “make that two.” Amy thanks him with a nod, promising herself this is going to be her last. After the day she has spent, drinking herself into a stuppor has a surprising appeal, but she doesn't want to engage on that slippery road.

“So, has the press conference been going well?”

“Can you really call it a press conference when there is only one journalist?” She pauses a bit before exclaiming in a side too shrill tone – she blames the alcohol for that. “The system is fucked up you know? The only newspaper wizards deem worth reading is _The Daily Prophet_ , and they spurt shit half of the time. The press here is so inherently flawed it's a wonder we consider ourselves a part of a democracy.”

“All the best for us.” Dan answers with a smirk, raising his glass in her direction. She mirrors him without thinking, and they both drink a swallow.

“You know what's fucked up though?”

“No. Please enlighten me Dan.”

He misses the irony, probably intentionally.

“There is no proper bar for wizards only. I mean, what have we got outside this lame rathole? The Three Broomsticks, which is either packed of students or dreadfully boring, and the Hog's Head which is definitely an interesting place, but far too creepy for my taste. And you've got to go all the way up to Hogsmeade. There should be some kind of bar for young wizards in London, with just the right amount of hipster.”

“You know you sound exactly like Jonah right here. I'm sure he would be delighted to open such a place with you.”

“Don't you dare mention his name.” Dan hissed. “He is the least person I would want to open a bar with. He once dragged me into a poor excuse of a restaurant which happened to serve scones in baskets. Who cares, for fuck's sake ?” He seems genuinely upset about that, and that's one aspect of Dan Amy has grown fond of – for all he calls himself _the iceman_ , he actually is more than able to feel irritation or anger, sometimes over the stupidest things, and to broadcast his emotions to the world.

 

 

 _Out of their whole year, she and Dan are the only_ _muggleborns. Sure, ever since the second wizarding war, Slytherins are pressed to overcome their prejudices on that account._ _This means there is only Jonah, who likes to claim that his uncle himself is the latest descendant of Merlin, to be overtly obnoxious about it. Still, old habits die hard, and Amy can't help_ _but feel she_ _and Dan are being scrutinized to check if they don't fuck up somehow, let it be in class or in_ _attitudes._

 

_By all accounts, it should have brought them closer – hell, they probably should have been thick as thieves. Yet they are both too similar and too different to really get along. Dan has a natural gift for networking whereas she is unable to chit chat amicably for the life of her. He is ready to crush anything that will stand on his way to success; she prides herself on having some sort of a moral compass, even if she knowingly sets it aside from time to time. She sees her own ambition and eagerness to leave her print in this world reflected in the glint of his eyes, and it both pleases and scares her._

_Point is, asides from their regular sessions of trashing over Jonah – because this guy is the worst – and the hours they spend poring over portions and betting on which of them is going to be the first to join Slughorn little club – unsurprisingly it's Dan, but Amy follows soon after – they don't bond much. It's probably for the best – the two of them in each other's pocket would have been an unpredictable and uncontrollable force._

 

 

“Plus, I am pretty sure the concept of ganging up against _T_ _he Prophet_ would have Jonah all excited too. The two of you could bring back to life this good old T _he Hogwarts Man_.”

 _The Hogwarts Man_ was a two-parchment piece of trash in which Jonah detailed all the gossips of the school – mostly of his own house. He had to stop in fourth year after an ill-advised reference to the private life of the headmistress herself. Amy shudders at the memory, and Dan chuckles upon seeing her expression.

“To come back to more pressing matters,” he goes on, his face serious again, “How _did_ this so called press conference go? Has the _weregate_ been taken care of properly?”

The _weregate_ was the latest disaster occurring in a day already full of crap. In her last meeting with officials from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Selina made an offhand comment, entirely unrelated on the issue at hand, on how she didn't think strict regulation against werewolves was the way to go. It was a bold move – although Shacklebolt had dismantled most of Umbridge's previous regulation, it is still a sensitive matter for most of the population. The way the eyebrows of most members of the Department had shot up convinced Amy they _had_ to take the matters into their own hands while they still had the opportunity to do so.

“Leon West did not seem entirely convinced, but at least he was glad he got first dibs to the story. Mike think that will play in our favour.”

“Mike is not very good at his job, don't you agree?”

Amy rolls her eyes and deflects it, because while she sometimes has her doubt about how Mike handle things she is not going to share this with Dan.

“He is far better than you would ever be. Remember that one time you had to take his place for a few days? It was a disaster. Journalists hate you.”

“I will have you know Rita Skeeter is very fond of me.”

“Only because she wouldn't mind getting some with younger flesh. It's not like anyone cares what she has to say these days anyway.”

Dan has nothing to answer to that, so he scowls and focuses on his drink again. Amy counts this as a win.

“The only reason you hate Mike so viscerally is because he is a Hufflepuff.”

“No, I don't like him because he is _incompetent_. Now, the fact that he is incompetent might have to do with him being a Hufflepuff, I don't know.”

She opens her mouth to protest, but he cuts her to the chase.

“Yes I know Amy, it's unbeknownst of Slytherins to trash other houses. Don't imagine I don't remember the way you dated a Hufflepuff back in the days to prove your point.”

“That's not why I dated Ed.” she answers in an indignant voice, although to be fair she would be unable to pit-point a reason. Her relationship with the guy lasted one year or so, overlapping over their fifth and sixth year, and yet not one single meaningful moment comes to mind– the whole thing is a blur, probably not unpleasant, but hardly memorable. Somehow it's not their relationship which stands out when she thinks of her last years at Hogwarts.

 

 

_There are on no questions on the fact that Amy and Dan are going to be prefects. Well, Jonah likes to think he has his chances, but let's be real here, he is no competition. The first time they are all gathered on the Hogwarts Express, their new Head Boy Sidney Purcell lets out an excited noise. Him being a Slytherin fellow and a member of the Slughorn's club, he is well versed in specific of their relationship by now._

“ _Well, if it isn't my favourite fifth years. This is going to be so much fun.”_

_They are at each other's throat for most of the year, and Amy honestly loses count of the number of times she and Dan were supposed to reprimand a student and ended up yelling at each other instead. It has at least the merit to make them the most popular prefects among the student body._

 

_Two years later, Amy spends the first weeks of her summer tight as a wire, waiting for the letter that will announce she is the new Head Girl. She snaps every time her mother or sister so much as ask if everything is alright. In the end she gets a **Say hello to your superior** card from Dan. She burns it in her frustration. Later in the year though, Dan is forced to step down due to some grim affairs of cheating at exams he has been involved in resurfacing, so it's all good._

 

 

“I bet you're trying to remember the name of the guy in question right now.”

“I remember Ed's name, thank you very much. It's just- can we please not spend the evening talking about Houses? I feel like I'm at school again.”

“The House system influence our whole life Amy. Remember those charts Ken drew about the correlation between House and politic system ?”

Oh yes, she does. Ken pulled out nominations for the higher posts of the ministry for the last hundred years or so, asked what he called _average wizards_ what house they most trusted with political power and deduced from it an overflowing diagram which basically said you were more likely to end up PM if you used to be a Slytherin. Curiously, Amy first thoughts upon discovering it was not “I knew I was in House of winners” but rather something along the line of “you can't promise me there is no statistical bias on this one Kent – for once, higher positions in the administration has been implicitly reserved for old pureblood family for the bigger part of the 20th century, and those are mostly Slytherins”. This, and a sort of fond remembrance that, before Kent and Ben came along and swelled the ranks of the Ravenclaw team with Sue, Selina's close circle was almost evenly split between Slytherins and Hufflepuff, with she and Dan on one side and Gary and Mike on the other.

She doesn't bother explaining that to Dan – instead, she huffs and raises her glass decidedly.

“The only thing I will say on this matter is this – please let not be a Gryffondor at the head of the country.”

Dan knows as well as she does that the only Gryffondor credible to run for the next PM election is Chung, so he has to raise his glass too.

Another gulp. She nearly empties her whole glass. So much for the laying-off-drinking thing.

 

 

_It's one of the last big parties of the year – the last, at least, before the beginning of NEWTs the next week, and the most arduous sessions of cramming they have ever experienced. Everyone here is eager to blow off some steam. Which is why most seventh years are currently in the Hufflepuff common room, handing each other glass of alcohols with music blaring loudly in the background, thanks to a well cast Amplifying Charm._

_Amy is currently standing next to the buffet – you can always count on Hufflepuff to bring good food- , appreciating the show of Jonah showing up and being insulted from all sides. At the periphery of her eyes, someone leans to whisper something in her ear, and she knows without checking it's Dan. She cuts him to the chase._

“ _Everybody hates Jonah.” she declares in an even tone as she turns to look at him, enjoying despite herself the smirk it brings to his face._

“ _Yes. But we were the first to do so.”_

_Slytherins pride themselves on being a tight clique but well, Jonah is Jonah. As proven by the yells echoing loudly at the moment, he is a strain even to Hufflepuff's goodwill._

_Amy wants to do some sort of joke on it, when she notices the way Dan stares at her, his gaze steady and maybe the slightest bit hungry. Without pausing to think about it, she takes his hand and brings him to the nearest dark corner of the room. He kisses her as soon as he has her backed against the wall. Her hand immediately starts gripping his neck, tugging at his collar, denying him the possibly to step away. It's rough, possessive – it always is, between the two of them, and Amy hates the fact that they did it enough time she has comparison material now. She releases her grip on him and turns her head away. He immediately stops, his eyes narrowing._

“ _What is it?”_

“ _This is the third time this week.”_

“ _Are you keeping tabs Ames? Writing_ _it_ _down in your diary or something?”_

“ _You don't get to call me Ames.” she greets behind her teeth. He doesn't listen to her, too busy_ _pushing her hair so it won't fall on h_ _er_ _neck. She already knows he is trying to f_ _ind_ _the perfect spot for a hickey. She hates the way her pulse is fluttering at the_ _thought. She_ _clears her throat, tries again._

“ _I just_ _think_ _it's getting too regular an occurrence, that's all.”_

_He rolls her eyes at that._

“ _This is probably the last we do_ _that. After_ _tonight, it will be cramming all day long, exams, and then our years at Hogwarts are going to be finished, and we will_ _not see much of_ _each o_ _ther for a_ _whil_ _e.”_

_Dan's plan after Hogwarts is to stay a bit in the United States, where he has managed to find an internship within the administration of the North American Wizarding school, because he wants to figure out “what the wizards life is like out there”. She doesn't know what he intends to do after that. He probably doesn't know either._

“ _Okay. You might be right on this.” she reluctantly agrees. Dan's face lights up so much it's ridiculous._

“ _You admitting that is music to my hears.” he whispers, his mouth already closing on hers._

 

_In the end, it turns out to exactly the way Dan predicted it – they barely talk to each other during their revisions or exams, and the party celebrating the last of their NEWTs turn short when McGonagall barges out at midnight when she has been alarmed by the sound of Weasley fireworks._

_Back at King's Cross, they nod at each other politely before parting on their own separate ways, and that's the last Amy sees of Dan for a very long time._

 

 _The_ _first_ _week he_ _gets into_ _Selina's communication team,_ _one_ _year_ _s_ _or so before Selina finally accedes to the PM position,_ _he grins and tell_ _Amy_ _in a smug tone “I hope we'll_ _able to move on.”_

“ _From what? We snogged like four or fives times. It was like getting over a mild case of food poisoning.”_

_It's not an outright lie. The snogging is not the problem. Everything in between is._

_Dan doesn't push, and it's surprising how little time it take them to fall back into their old patterns – or maybe it is not. They only spent two years appart after all._

_Amy will never admit she missed it._

 

 

Back to the present, Dan is staring at her with a slightly impatient look, the kind he gets when people are too slow on the uptake for his taste. Amy glances at the bar – it's a Tuesday night and it's getting late, so most people have trickled out by now. Come eleven and they will be the only ones here.

“What?” she snaps. He probably told her something while she wasn't paying attention.

“I said, are we going to my place?”

He sounds far too confident for her taste, and yet the diffuse light in the bar is doing wonders to his face, and his smile hits just the right amount of cocky.

She nods, and follows him as they leave the bar.

They are doing this far too often these days, but Amy refuses to make a big deal out of it.

It's not like it means anything.

 


End file.
